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11/27/2013

Interpellation ends, budget deliberation starts

The National Assembly wrapped up this year’s government interpellation on November 25. At the last round of inquiries on society, education and culture, members of the National Assembly asked government officials including Prime Minister Chung Hongwon for explanations about a range of issues, in particular politically-charged history textbooks and the basic pension plan. Especially, the interpellation got heated up over the recent controversial sermon by the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice. Members from the ruling Saenuri Party (SP) raised voice against the priests’ comments that appeared to be condoning North Korea’s bombing of the South’s island in 2010, and their call on President Park to step down. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP), on the other hand, said that the government and the ruling party should accept and ponder over the criticism against them, while drawing a line between positions of the party and the priests about the North’s attack. Participants in the interpellation included Reps. Kang Ghil Boo, Kim Jae Kyung, Kweon Seong Dong, Chung Moon Hun, Kyung Dae Soo, Kim Ki Sun (SP), Kim Sung Ju, Do Jong Hwan, Park Hong Keun, Yoo Eun Hae, Choi Minhee (DP) and Jeong Jinhoo(Justice Party). From November 26 on, the standing committees will be working on legislative bills and the 2014 budget bill.